Tasmanian Times

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. No price is too high for the privilege of owning yourself. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. No price is too high for the privilege of owning yourself. ~ Friedrich Nietzsche

To survive to the end of this century, humanity faces an enormous challenge because of accelerating climate change.

Many people of goodwill talk optimistically of trying to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees C.

Had there been co-ordinated, world-wide action to drastically limit greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions during say the first decade of this century, this objective may have been achievable.

Furthermore, had Homo sapiens been capable of acting wisely and rationally (thus honoring its species-name!), this should not have been an unreasonable starting time, seeing that scientists started their warnings about climate change in the 1980s! However, the truth is that the window of opportunity to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees has passed.

It was noted (“2018 among hottest years”, The Age, 1/1) that the mean surface temperature of Earth is “now about 1.1 degrees above the pre-industrial norm … more than halfway to the 2-degree upper limit of [agreed] warming”. However, because of climate inertia, especially oceanic thermal inertia, something slightly in excess of 2 degrees is already locked in.

Distinguished US climate scientist, James Hansen, repeatedly stressed the crucial fact that more unavoidable warming is already “in the pipeline”, “committed” or “locked in”. We are indeed in deep trouble because of reckless, if not criminal, inaction on climate change on the part adult politicians, and it is our youth, children and grandchildren whose lives will be imperiled.

For most of his political career, Scott Morrison has shown little or no enthusiasm to effectively address the challenge of climate change, and has never publically acknowledged that it poses a threat to humanity’s continued existence. On 14 February 2017 he did his best to ridicule those advocating the de-carbonization of the economy by walking into parliament with a lump of coal and saying: “Don’t be afraid, don’t be scared, it won’t hurt you. It’s coal.” Until very recently, Morrison assiduously avoided uttering the c-c words, even during his recent visits to drought-stricken regions, when he suggested people should pray for rain in the apparent belief that prayer would be more effective in influencing climate than controlling GHG emissions.

Belatedly Morrison has been forced into giving the appearance of addressing the climate-change issue. This has not come about through a change of heart but represents a desperate attempt to stave off political defeat. The newly proposed Climate Solution Package is simply an extension of a plan, the Emissions Reduction Fund, devised under the auspices of a climate-change denier – Tony Abbott. The Climate Council, which is deals in science, has already condemned the new plan as bad policy – wasteful, inefficient and not commensurate with the challenge. A carbon tax and the abolition of fossil fuel subsidies would be far more efficient.

Morrison’s so-called “Climate Solutions Package” will fool no one into accepting that he has ceased to believe that climate change is just a political nuisance and non-issue. Most “non-issue” people are either climate-change deniers or skeptics – it is simply a non-acceptance or skepticism regarding the validity of conclusions reached by climate scientists. However, in the case of Morrison the explanation may be more complicated and more insidious. The rejection of scientific findings by may well be secondary to strongly held religious beliefs hidden in his psyche and not revealed to Australian electors.

Scott Morrison is an avowed adherent to Pentecostalism and regularly attends the Horizon Church in Sydney. Central tenets of the Pentecostal Church include belief in the existence of the Devil (Satan) and the imminent return to Earth of Jesus Christ. Apparently Pentecostals envisage a continual tension or battle between these two forces of evil and good, but Jesus will soon return and consign Satan to Hell. These issues were explored in considerable detail in the February 2019 issue of The Monthly magazine.

What should be of great concern is that Morrison may well believe that there is no point in mere mortals like you and me trying to limit GHG emissions because the fate of the Earth and humanity will be determined by the interaction of such supernatural forces as the Devil and the imminent return to Earth of a deity’s emissary in the form of Jesus Christ. In the insightful words of The Monthly: “Belief in Satan and the imminent return of Christ — helps explain the prime minister’s less-than-passionate response to the most pressing environmental issue of our time.” These are disturbing thoughts, and provide a good reason to ask: is our Prime Minister a closet doomsday cultist?

Ian A.E. Bayly held the position of Reader in Zoology at Monash University from 1971-1995. He was a Vice-President of the Australian Conservation Foundation from 1973-1975, and played a prominent role in the conservation struggles to save Lake Pedder and Fraser Island. Ian holds the rare degree of Doctor of Science and in the course of a six-decade career authored or co-authored of over 100 peer-reviewed scientific papers and four books*, He is the recipient of the Australian Society for Limnology Medal. During the 1980s he spent two periods in Antarctica researching the ecology of planktonic animals. Bayly Bay in the Vestfold Hills is named in recognition of his published contributions (12 papers) to Antarctic science. He is still publishing scientific papers, being co-author of a chapter in the book Plankton to be published by CSIRO on April 2019. In October 2018 a major “popular” essay of his entitled “Our Climate-Change Apathy: gifting our grandchildren a living hell” was published in Arena Magazine #156. This article attracted favourable comment from Prof. Peter Doherty, Prof. David Karoly and Dr Joelle Gergis. [In the contemporary world the term “Reader” has become largely an anachronism. It was awarded for high excellence in research and at Monash University it ranked between Associate Professor and Professor.] * (1) Bayly, I.A.E. and Williams, W.D. (1973). Inland Waters and their Ecology. (Longman: Melbourne). 316 pp. Reprinted 1974, 1975, 1976, 1977 & 1981. (2) Bayly, I.A.E. (1999). Rock of Ages: Human Use and Natural History of Australian Granites.(Univ. W.A. Press: Perth.) 132 pp. (3) Bayly, I.A.E. (2009). Len Beadell’s Legacy: Australia’s Atomic Bomb and Rocket Roads. (Bas Publishing: Seaford). 144pp. Reprinted 2010 & 2018. (4) Bayly, I.A.E. (2011). Australia’s Granite Wonderlands: Rock of Ages’ Intriguing Landscapes and Life. (Bas Publishing: Seaford). 168 pp.

22 Comments

“His most important words were that Labor would create a national Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC)

This is welcome news indeed, and we must all work to ensure that this pledge is followed through, and is fully legislated.

The Tasmanian legal profession must be barred from playing any part in the proceedings.

My research into The Forestry Tasmania/Ta Ann deal over peeler billets, an arrangement which still costs this state a million dollars a week, has been tabled by Andrew Wilkie in the Federal Parliament.

This research reveals the detail, to the long term detriment of Tasmania, behind the gifting of a public asset to a foreign company.

When this case is behind us, then and only then, will this State progress.

Oh, Happy Days!”

The Lieberals also promised a Federal ICAC, but after the Banking Royal Commission they will never investigate anything ever again, much less forestry in Tasmania. So that is another broken promise.

John Hawkins, no one was that interested in the vague babbling of what the straw man Bill Shorten had to say. I have not met a soul who wanted him as PM at any cost as the man was a complete dud for a political leader!

Labor thought they would be closer mates with the Greens, it completely back fired outside the major cities who fail not wanting to understand the realities of rural life and do not believe that the economy is primarily based on Federal royalties based on coal and iron ore exports.

Young anti economy protesters lolling around the streets of Melbourne and I would expect next will be Hobart which is further out of the way as both are displaced from the real world of the hard work of mining and farming in the states of Queensland, Western Australia and the rest of outback Australia.

The Queensland Premier has recently indicated that the result of the Adani project will be known in about three weeks. Assuming it stacks up both economically , environmentally and does not require government money it will benefit the add on effects for extending Queensland jobs and for the overall national economy.

To the north of Brisbane the line must be held banning further nuisances from the south entering the extraordinary state Queensland with the intention of creating havoc among local towns who are orientated towards mining as a part of their economy.

Students supported by left wing protests in other major capital cities will have little or no impact on the direction of Queensland which intends to retain its traditional values associated with mining and other rural pursuits.

It is unlikely that the recently publicly elected Morrison government will bother with ICAC as it has better things to do to keep the economy intact with its support for jobs and growth.

As does the PM I too live in the city but we base our aspirations in support of the important aspects of rural life and in the bush.

Hearty congratulations to the reappointment of Scott Morrison as PM, with the support of the Nationals along with Palmer United and Pauline Hanson, hopefully the seat of Bass will join the Coalitions bid for another sensible political decision for another northern rural seat alongside Braddon.

The genius that is Morrison has suddenly woken up that if he pays the promised tax cuts in this financial year, at a cost of $8 billion, his much hyped projected surplus will vanish in one foul swoop through his own incompetence. So now it must be delayed into the new financial year.

Morrison never expected to get elected so he never expected to have to honour any of his promises.

Now the pre-election promises all paid with no new taxes will push the deficit, which is already twice that inherited from Labor, right up the proverbial.

At least Labor was going to raise taxes to pay for its expenditure.

How does this Liberal magic pudding work?

Where does the money come from?

Maybe Mr Adani has the answers .. or are we about to loan him a billion dollars interest free?

If so, doubtless some coal-carrying Liberal will get a large finder’s fee payable in the Cayman islands .. nah, that would be corrupt.

Ta Ann: Rumor has it that the machinery paid for by the Aussie taxpayer makes the wrong sized plywood because the standard has changed. Burning it all down would be a pleasant relief, for it will never have to re-open .. and they can pocket the insurance money.

What about the three hundred million to move the University in Lonnie? That promise was made some 6 years ago. The plans are drawn up, and I saw them in the Examiner .. but no buildings have as yet sighted.

Doubtless Halton and Fitch will have all the answers.

My guess: This will all end in tears .. as the nation is about to hit the skids.

Russell.I would not be too sure about that, we could end up with a mongrelised mess of Conservatives and Moderate toSevere Right Wingers against a Green infested background of Labor do gooders with Bill Shorten as PM preaching the gospel according to Gough Whitlam telling us that we will be equals when divisions within the Australian social system could be far worse.than that of PM Morrison’s reign, who i think tried his best tried his best to restore a broken system of national government in avery short period of time since the demise of Turnbull!

That is democracy, if we are not happy with our lot at the end of the day based in the principles of Climate Change\ National energy policy uncertainty versus our current Economic and Social system woes then governments could find themselves constantly barraging each otheres progress progress.during this next three year term of government.

Its somewhat confusing where we are heading but it is definitely far from the heady days of Hawke Keating leadership values, Australia has constantly been under leadership spills from those worthy days when Labor was a far brighter political entity with aspiring leadership.

Now the likely hood of yet another PM in the making, its really getting a bit too much!

Mr Hawkins, its actually been a magnificent stroke of luck that Morrison exceeded all expectations in breaking up the consistently unpopular ,dull and determined Shorten cycle of offerings on the table for the Australian public to mull over and then deciding who to vote for!

Even if Morrison does not manage to form a majority government ,he has a far freer hand to govern with a public mandate and is the type of operator who will not be lectured to by minors in the Parliament such as Brandt and Wilkie who may have some influence of holding the balance of power!

With the niggling Abbott out of the way Morrison can choose his own Cabinet freely as he wishs to represent the wide range of public interests and measures to take the country to a higher level of stability than we have seen under the constant sickening of the Rudd- Gillard _ Rudd- Abbott _ Turnbull regimes!

Thank Christ that the dust has settled! Playing silly buggers deserves to be over!

Morrison needs to run a tight ship and I am sure he will, pity help any dissenters who as Independents or Greens who dare tread on his toes, the soft touch Turnbull day routines are gone, remember that the quirky Morrison character is now very much centre stage as our most recent publicly elected PM!

Morrison appears to be both a good town and country guy within the Australian context but he needs to connect with the upcoming younger generation who will expect him to a reach out to a rapidly changing Australia which is facing many internal and global pressures such as unsustainable practices among the worst resulting from the indifference of overpopulation pressures and rising political unstability throughout the globe.

Although Shorten had a united team he was not leader material, the bugger knows it too and that is why he is stepping down !
Lucky that the voters suspected his shortcomings!

It shouldn’t be too hard for Mikey West to join these dots, especially with the QRC and McFarlane mentioned.

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has declared his support for the mining industry, pledging $30 million for a new school for miners in Central Queensland. Will they teach digging up silica, alumina and copper as well?

Where does Bill stand? Does Bill know? Check with the CFMMEU ‘executive’ and S. McManus.

Probably a smart move by Morrison, I strongly support better mining practices to actually develop a mining profession to equip employees with a high level of technical know how including managing a far better understanding of environmental aspects associated with the industry.

The exclusion of cheap overseas labor and the attitudes of gung ho third world mining company administration along with their careless practices in theiri countries of operations must not be tolerated on our ground by all levels of Australian government.

Morrison unfortunately had little time to articulate his plan which sounds beneficial for the nation while Shorten, his union mates and the Qld govt. still squander over the Adani question and then only on a smaller sustainable scale in order to protect the natural environment including underground water resources.

My view is its more about encouraging a higher level of mining practice and this may result in smaller mines operating over a wider area of land mass and not the large concentration of massive open cuts across our landscape.

Being so late in the political campaign Morrison could remain outstripped to win government but may be respected as an Opposition leader by the mining industry to show faith backed by his School of mines plan for central Qld.

I’ve just received an email from Greenpeace. It has completed an investigation along with journalist Michael West (The Age, SMH, The Australian) to see why Big Coal has such a toxic stranglehold over our political system.

They began the investigation with two questions: how does the Australian coal industry maintain its grip on our politics? And why do government decisions keep going the way of the coal industry and against the interests of the Australian people who have voted repeatedly for climate action?

Well, I’ve always thought there were vested interests and much political influence interfering with our Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison Federal Government’s love of coal and hate of renewables and ecological sustainability. But I had no idea how much and how many were involved within our parliament and associated on the outside.

Please everyone take the small amount of time (about 15 minutes) to watch this video. Believe me when I say there’s sure to be info and a surprise no matter what your politics or how much you think you already know about this…

Ian and Jack – please forgive my rant; you’ve struck a nerve. But I get so frustrated and angry about our so-called leaders who, in effect, contribute to collectively work against the relative stability of planet’s systems and therefore every living thing on earth. I hadn’t thought of it before, but perhaps by default our PM could be categorized as a doomsday cultist along with the many other card-carrying Christians who have been operating as an influential political clique since John Howard’s time. Even so, I think they ultimately act for themselves and for political advantage. There has been a conga line of Liberal PMs and their loyal band of Coalition co-conspirators who have eagerly misinformed, misdirected, manipulated, obfuscated and even inculcated fear in the public to gain short-term control of policy & direction and to carry on self-serving business as usual.

This is tantamount to state-sanctioned future-eating, imo. This is unsustainable and inter-generational theft. These are Crimes Against Humanity. Granted, the human species is just a blip in geological time on earth and has always been destined for extinction eventually in the far distant future – nothing lasts forever; nothing is static. But we humans have cleverly invented and rapidly progressed our way, by choice and despite knowledge and awareness, to degrade our own habitat and fast-track our own demise. (So ironic). The greater tragedy of all this is that we are taking everything else down with us.

The Hague might not ever see these politicians – these ‘leaders’ – called to account. But if there is a Hell (which I don’t believe), then I think the PM, Abbott, Barnaby and many others (including Pell) have unknowingly booked their own places, first-class.

PS Jon – I don’t know about 2 deg C being locked in, but going by the woeful (and hopeless) pattern of ineffective action so far, I reckon it’s in the bag anyway. According to the IPCC here’s what it would take to make the turn-around: “The report finds that limiting global warming to 1.5°C would require “rapid and far-reaching” transitions in land, energy, industry, buildings, transport, and cities. Global net human-caused emissions of carbon dioxide (CO2) would need to fall by about 45 percent from 2010 levels by 2030, reaching ‘net zero’ around 2050. This means that any remaining emissions would need to be balanced by removing CO2 from the air.
“Limiting warming to 1.5°C is possible within the laws of chemistry and physics but doing so would require unprecedented changes,” said Jim Skea, Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III.” https://www.ipcc.ch/2018/10/08/summary-for-policymakers-of-ipcc-special-report-on-global-warming-of-1-5c-approved-by-governments/

Personally I can’t see us doing this – we should be well on the way in words and deeds already. (I think it’s game over. But I’d be ecstatic to be proved stupid and completely wrong).

Just looked at this article now. It raises a salient question that the MS media simply will not follow up on.

Clearly the PM is part of a doomsday cult as per the eschatology of the average ‘born-again’ Christian. It’s a ‘private matter’ as far as the PM is concerned. It was still a private matter as he meddled in Israeli-Palestinian politics during the Wentworth by-election; irrespective that the return of his ‘Lord’ in the sky is predicated upon a great war in Israel that will see PM Scummo and his ilk rocketed to a better world as part of the so-called ‘rapture’. This all begins in the Middle East.

Armageddon (Hebrew: “Hill of Megiddo”) is actually a place in Galilee where is is prophesied that the great battle will begin.

They even made a film about the rapture in the 1970s in order to frighten the hell out of small children:

Books were written telling them all that the earth was to be destroyed and it is pointless to try and save it as ‘The Lord’ has other plans:

All this quite simply demonstrates that people like PM Scummo will be saved and the rest of the plant and all of the rest of us can go to hell – quite literally.

A ‘private matter’ hey? This sort of stuff is so extreme that it is only logical to question the sanity of people who believe it.

So, why is it that the MS media does not even ask?

Q. How can our PM be a religious extremist at a time where religious extremism is the greatest flash point in western politics?

A. For the same reason we have allowed merchant bankers and the finance industry to rule over us. Collectively we all too stupid and distracted to see what this means for the state of our secular democracy.

Getting religion and money out of our politics is the only real salvation we have. That can only happen if Australians finally wake up to how bad this has got and refuse to elect people who are delusional and speak in tongues.

We need a flood of independents – a frigging Ark full of them – in the Great Canberra Electoral Flood.

Well done Ian Bayly. A bit of a change from limnology, but I wish more scientists would finally realise that they can no longer stay out of politics or fence sit. Bankers, religious nuts and spin doctors don’t care for reason – and we have allowed them to push their personal agendas ‘in private’ for far too long.

It’s time for a political apocalypse and the ‘End of Times’ for people like PM Scummo who drag their sorry delusions and self interests into our secular parliaments.

What you mention as ‘climate inertia’ is usually referred in my neck of the woods as ‘committed warming’. Research has shown that the lag in warming can be partitioned into parcels of emissions, so the warming we have now is due to emissions from the 1990s. Thus we have committed warming in the pipe from the 2000s. However, I am not aware that the committed warming in the pipe is going to take the planet over the 2° Celsius level, but it is going to take us over the 1.5° Celsius that many climate researchers believe is the danger line. I also think that it is the dangerous temperature, given the decades early beginning of methane emissions in the Arctic.

I am asking if you can provide the references showing how and why 2° Celsius warming is ‘locked in’.

Hi Jon – The claim that we need to double 1.1 Degrees because of what is presently locked in is mentioned in more than one place in the following book: : Carter, P.D. and Woodworth, E. (2018). Unprecedented Crime: climate change denial and game changes for survival. (Clarity Press, Atlanta.). Unfortunately I loaned this book to a friend yesterday and therefore cannot give you page references. This book has a foreword by James Hansen and the scholarship in it is excellent in my judgement.
Kind regards,
Ian

Hi Jon – The statement that we need to double the current apparent 1.1 degrees because of what is locked in in made in more than one place in the following reference:: Carter, P.D. and Woodworth, E. (2018). Unprecedented Crime: climate change denial and game changes for survival. (Clarity Press, Atlanta.). Unfortunately I loaned this book to a friend only yesterday and therefore I cannot give you page numbers. This book has a foreword by James Hansen and the scholarship in it is excellent by my judgement.
Kind regards,
Ian

About Tasmanian Times

Tasmanian Times is a forum of discussion and dissent - a cheeky, irreverent challenge to the mass media’s obsession with popularity, superficiality and celebrity.

"The individual has always had to struggle to keep from being overwhelmed by the tribe. If you try it, you will be lonely often, and sometimes frightened. No price is too high for the privilege of owning yourself." - Friedrich Nietzsche